TIMES-PICAYUNE ARCHIVEThe scene in northeastern St. Tammany Parish were a woman was killed during a Ku Klux Klan initiation ceremony in 2008.The alleged leader of a Bogalusa Ku Klux Klan group went on trial this morning in the 2008 killing of a woman who reportedly tried to back out of an initiation rite to join his organization.

Jury selection began at about 10:30 a.m. at the St. Tammany Parish courthouse in Covington.

Raymond "Chuck" Foster, 45, is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Cynthia Lynch, 43, of Oklahoma, in a remote area of St. Tammany Parish, after she reportedly had told him that she wanted to go home.

Several of Fosters' alleged accomplices, including two of his sons, are scheduled to testify this week during the trial.

Raymond FosterAt 5 feet 4 inches tall, his long beard now shaven and his already wide frame - once weighing about 300 pounds -- now even wider, the accused leader of the Bogalusa Sons of Dixie Knights entered state Judge Peter Garcia's courtroom on Monday morning wearing a striped button-down shirt and slacks .

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Oubre is prosecuting the case, and Foster is being represented by the St. Tammany Parish public defender's office.

Due to the nature of the case, a metal detector was positioned directly outside of the courtroom, being constantly monitored by at least one sheriff's deputy. Such precautions are typically reserved for death penalty cases.